Latest news bulletin | February 23rd – Midday
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00:00 Protests in Gaza over dire humanitarian situation, while Israeli reports show Hamas carried out
00:06 sexual violence during the October 7 attacks.
00:11 Displaced Palestinian children in the southern Gaza city of Rafah protested in support of
00:16 other children suffering from hunger and Israeli attacks in the northern part of the strip,
00:22 local media said on Wednesday.
00:24 The young demonstrators chanted and held signs reading "Our children are dying of hunger"
00:29 and calling for the end of the war.
00:31 While in Israel, the Association of Rape Crisis Centers says evidence shows systematic and
00:37 intentional sexual violence during the Hamas attacks on October 7.
00:41 "It's not a quantitative research, it's actually understanding the practices of the Hamas.
00:46 And when you look at it and when you understand it, you can't believe it.
00:50 I don't think in the recent history and even in past history, things happened in a few
00:58 hours in such a sadistic, brutal way.
01:01 The findings are that the Hamas terrorists did systematic work.
01:07 The horrific atrocities did not happen in one place, it happened all over."
01:11 Blooms of smoke were seen rising over the northern part of the Gaza Strip on Thursday,
01:17 as Israel continues its military offensive in the besieged territory.
01:21 New attempts are underway to reach a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that could cause
01:27 the war in Gaza, a member of Israel's war cabinet said late Wednesday.
01:35 Alexei Navalny's mother has finally been able to see the body of her son.
01:40 In a video statement from the Arctic City posted on Navalny's YouTube channel, Dmitriya
01:45 Navalnaya said she's resisting strong pressure by authorities to agree to a secret burial
01:50 of her son.
01:51 "They are blackmailing me, putting conditions on me where, when and how Alexei should be
01:59 buried.
02:00 It's illegal."
02:05 On Wednesday, Navalny's mother filed a lawsuit at a court in Salekhard, contesting officials'
02:10 refusal to release her son's body.
02:13 A closed-door hearing has been scheduled for March 4th.
02:18 On Tuesday, she appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to release her son's remains
02:24 so that she could bury him with the dignity he deserves.
02:36 Russia's Supreme Court upheld a ruling to bar opposition candidate Boris Nedestin from
02:40 taking part in Russia's presidential elections, scheduled for the 15th of March.
02:45 The Central Election Commission has already rejected the 9,000 signatures from Russians
02:49 across the country that supported the liberal candidate.
02:53 With this new decision, the Supreme Court removed Putin's last remaining significant
02:57 challenger in the elections.
02:59 Nedestin had made ending the conflict in Ukraine his main campaign slogan.
03:13 Russian Chief of the General Staff, Army General Valery Gerasimov, claimed that Russian forces
03:18 seized Avdeevka within "a fairly short time" that was preceded by a long period of preparation.
03:26 Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu similarly attempted to downplay heavy Russian losses
03:30 and the difficulty of seizing Avdeevka during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir
03:35 Putin on the 20th of February, portraying the seizure of the town as an astounding success
03:41 with minimal losses, despite the fact that the four-month-long operation resulted in
03:46 an estimated 16,000 to 47,000 Russian personnel losses, says the Institute for the Study of
03:53 War.
03:54 The think tank adds Russian forces recently marginally advanced northwest of Avdeevka
03:59 and have likely finished clearing operations in the town.
04:04 Positional battles continued northwest of Avdeevka near Stepove and Lastochkino, west
04:09 of Avdeevka near Severne and southwest of Avdeevka near Pervomaisk and Nevelsk.
04:16 Russian mill bloggers claim that Russian forces are trying to build and stabilize a new line
04:20 of defence in the Avdeevka direction.
04:23 Ukrainian officials denied a recent New York Times report that Russian forces may have
04:28 captured hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers during Ukraine's withdrawal from Avdeevka, saying
04:33 that Russian forces did capture some Ukrainian soldiers, but the reports about hundreds of
04:39 Ukrainians being taken prisoner or otherwise being unaccounted for are false.
04:45 The Institute for the Study of War has still not observed any open source evidence of Russian
04:50 forces taking large numbers of Ukrainian forces prisoner.
04:58 Fenced forests along Poland's 418-kilometer-width Belarus now separated by a heavily guarded
05:04 iron fence.
05:05 Last week, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced he would beef up security on this
05:09 border - an operation Baltic countries and Finland plan to support.
05:13 "We will propose also a locating camera system to monitor the immigrants' movements and of
05:23 course we will gather and we gathered already the experiences of the border guards and other
05:31 services from the last two years and of course we will cooperate with the other services
05:39 of our alliances."
05:42 Estonia, like Poland, is a NATO member and makes up part of the military alliance's eastern
05:47 flank against Russia.
05:49 Tallinn's ambassador to Poland says Moscow's intentions should not be underestimated.
05:53 "The report of Estonian foreign intelligence, how Russia will probably reconstitute its
06:01 military capabilities in three to four years, it is an important factor, but it also depends
06:06 on our side.
06:07 If we are able to help Ukraine enough so that they will win, that will also change Russia's
06:14 plans.
06:15 So there Estonia, but Lithuania and Poland, we have assumed this sort of leadership role
06:20 that we have to be the ones who are also trying to inspire the others that they would also
06:28 move with the speed of relevance."
06:30 EU has long accused both Russia and Belarus of pushing illegal migrants across its borders.
06:35 But disinformation about the intentions of NATO members is also a concern.
06:40 "Russia will continue to conduct destabilization operations against NATO countries and NATO
06:45 eastern flanks.
06:46 And they keep repeating that Poland has imperialist inclinations and Poland would like to take
06:51 part in Ukraine or part of Belarus.
06:54 So these are actions that convince the public opinion in Russia and Belarus to have more
07:04 army."
07:06 The issue of regulating the situation on the EU eastern borders seems to be crucial not
07:11 only in terms of migration, but in terms of common security system and response strategy.
07:17 Magdalena Khadovnik for Euronews from Warsaw.
07:24 Delivery riders and gig workers from different European countries protested in front of the
07:29 European Parliament in Brussels on Thursday, demanding better working conditions and legal
07:34 protections.
07:35 They are warning against what they call "the Uberization of European economies."
07:40 One of them, Ben Ali, walked more than 100 kilometers from Lille to Brussels to raise
07:44 awareness of the situation faced by platform workers.
07:48 "Two comrades died last week.
07:54 One delivery rider was hit by a heavy weight in Lille and one comrade was killed because
07:59 we wanted to steal his vehicle.
08:01 We shot him."
08:05 Platform workers are mostly treated as self-employed, although their work is overseen by platforms
08:10 such as Uber or Deliveroo.
08:12 Despite them doing similar work to full-time employees, they have limited social and pensions
08:17 rights.
08:18 The EU was willing to improve their situation with the platform work directive, but four
08:22 member states derailed the political agreement before its final approval.
08:26 "We are addressing France, but we are also addressing Greece, Germany, Estonia to say
08:32 that they cannot prevent millions of workers from obtaining rights in a few months of the
08:40 European elections.
08:41 It would be an incomprehensible and scandalous decision."
08:43 If approved, the directive will change the lives of around 5.5 million people.
08:51 Currently, more than 28 million people are working as part of the gig economy.
09:02 Ethnic Serbs in Kosovo are lining up to withdraw money in the Dinar currency following a ban
09:07 implemented by the Kosovan government.
09:12 The Serbian minority and Albanians in the country are facing difficulty in getting the
09:16 currency after a February 1 ruling made the euro the only currency in the country.
09:21 "The Serbian workers constantly teach children about rights and justice, but we are facing
09:28 injustice every day.
09:29 The international community must join in and solve this problem of wage payments for
09:36 the unemployed, for the pensioners and for all the others, for social benefits and to
09:41 finally solve this problem."
09:44 The Kosovan government has been invited to a meeting in Brussels next week, but so far
09:48 has refused to back down from the ruling.
09:50 The use of smartphones and tablets will be banned in Italian classrooms, even for teaching
10:04 purposes under new guidelines that will be put into place in the upcoming weeks, Education
10:09 Minister Giuseppe Valditarra said in an interview with newspaper Il Foglio published Thursday.
10:15 The ban, which includes students from kindergarten, primary and lower secondary schools, extends
10:20 an existing ban on the non-academic use of smart devices introduced in Italy in 2007
10:27 that has not always been enforced.
10:33 The body of acclaimed poet and resistance fighter Misah Manoushion and his wife were
10:38 transferred to the Pantheon Wednesday evening.
10:41 Manoushion, a poet who survived the Armenian genocide and took refuge in France, was executed
10:48 in 1944 for being a leader of the resistance to the Nazi occupation.
10:53 He is the first foreigner in France to be inducted into the Pantheon.
10:59 The ceremony takes place as France prepares to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
11:09 Belgium is celebrating 100 years of Surrealism with a unique exhibition dedicated to the
11:13 avant-garde movement.
11:17 The exhibition is in the context of the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European
11:21 Union.
11:23 Two exhibitions, one at the Brussels Arts Centre Bazaar and the other at the Royal Museum
11:28 of Fine Arts, are bringing together international Surrealist artists.
11:33 The exhibitions hope to illustrate the importance of the Surrealist movement.
11:38 "It's a great feeling, you know."
11:40 [SWOOSH]